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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: chest · capital · leaves · current · band · shower · land · net

  1. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.
  2. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  3. He still wears his gold wedding ________________.
  4. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  5. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  6. He put a rubber ________________ around the bundle of letters.
  7. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  8. The beginning of a sentence starts with a ________________ letter.
  9. What was your ________________ profit last year?
  10. She laid her head on my ________________ so she could listen to my heartbeat.
  11. I felt an uncomfortable tightness in my ________________.
  12. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  13. A second agreement was made due to the large amount of available ________________.
  14. Let us try to swim against the ________________.
  15. He's the lead singer in a rock ________________.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. Beijing is the ________________ of China.
  18. Wood does not conduct electric ________________.
  19. The lid of the ________________ creaked open.
  20. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  21. When are we going to ________________?
  22. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  23. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  24. Here is a list of ________________ job openings.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. leaves — lets stay
  2. land — ground
  3. band — a ring
  4. net — for catching
  5. net — in sport
  6. band — a rubber band
  7. shower — a meteor shower
  8. capital — a big letter
  9. net — after costs
  10. chest — of your body
  11. chest — of your body
  12. leaves — of a tree
  13. capital — money
  14. current — of water
  15. band — a music group
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. capital — a city
  18. current — electric
  19. chest — a box
  20. shower — to wash
  21. land — to come down
  22. land — a country
  23. shower — rain
  24. current — happening now

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com